Amateur and Senior Hockey Leagues

exploring the past hockey leagues of north america

Amateur Hockey Leagues formed the basis of hockey as
we know it today. Starting with the Amateur Hockey
Association in 1893 we look at these leagues and their
history over time. In addition we look at the development
of the Senior Hockey Leagues throughout North America.

The league had six teams in each of its first three
seasons but in the last season it had only four teams.
The league was the last of the "so called" amateur
leagues of the late 1800's to early 1900's.

Amateur leagues,
like the powerful Eastern Canada Amateur Hockey Association (ECAHA), were quietly
paying top players under the table. Finally, realizing
that there was no way to stop this, the Stanley Cup was officially
opened to professionals in 1906, and the first sactioned professional team
to win it was the Montreal Wanderers.

Bitterness over the use of professionals grew in the ECAHA, and in 1909 the last
two amateur teams, Montreal AAA and the Montreal
Victorias, dropped out of the ECAHA. Within a year, a new pro league named
the Canadian Hockey Association (CHA) was formed from the remaining ECAHA teams.

An Allan Cup championship had been launched in 1908 as Canada’s
new true amateur trophy, replacing the Stanley Cup for the amateur clubs.

Eastern Canada Amateur Hockey Association (1906-1909) Champions

The Arena Corporation of Montreal.
presented the Eastern Canada Amateur Hockey Association the “Arena
Cup” which was awarded annually to the
league champion.

Year

Champion

Runner-Up

1909

Ottawa Senators

Montreal Wanderers

1908

Montreal Wanderers

Ottawa Silver Seven

1907

Montreal Wanderers

Ottawa Silver Seven

1906

Ottawa Silver Seven

Montreal Wanderers

During the years the Eastern Canada Amateur Hockey Association was in operation
the Stanley Cup was awarded via the challenge system. It was also during
the early
1900's that professional hockey was starting to find it's roots and an
expansion of hockey leagues was occuring. This resulted in challenges occuring
from vatious leagues and some independent teams.

Ottawa Senators, as champions of the Eastern Canada Hockey
Association, took over the Stanley Cup in 1909. A challenge
was accepted by the Cup trustees from the Winnipeg Shamrocks.
The series could not be arranged because of the lateness of
the season. No other challenges were made in 1909. The following
season, 1909-10, the Senators accepted two challenges as defending
Stanley Cup champions. In January of 1910, two game total goal
series were arranged with Galt and Edmonton.